Timber Wolf 357 Magnum

[Tatume]

Hello Folks,

Does anybody remember the Timber Wolf 357 Magnum slide action carbine? It was marketed in 1989 by Action Arms Ltd., and was made by Israel Military Industries. The gun was a take-down with an 18" barrel, straight grip checkered stock, and the receiver had an integral Weaver-type base milled in. All in all it looked line a very nice rifle, and IMI has a reputation for quality workmanship. The only thing I can find on it is an advertisement in the May-June 1989 Rifle magazine. It looks like a fun gun, and I'd like to find one.

Take care, Tom

[dubber123]

I remember them, and wish I had bought one. I have never heard anything bad about them. One early test had a scoped one shooting 1" groups at 100 yds.

[texassako]

I don't think they made very many, but I think they planned to build more. There are a bunch of barrels and blanks floating around out there lately that could only have been planned for them.

[cwheel]

I have one that is almost new old stock, less than 500 rounds fired. Got it for a good price way back, wish I'd got the one in 44 mag. Lots of guts for a rifle that weighs about the same as a 22. Very accurate and reliable if you do your part. And that means that this rifle feeds poorly with anything other than a round nose bullet. I just made a mold to cast bullets for this one, haven't got to cast with it and give it a try. Mold is a copy of a Lee 6 banger that should throw a bullet between 150-160 gr. Bullet form is a round nose with a small (.156 ) flat on the nose to prevent chain fires in the tubular 10 shot magazine. I guess the rifles preference for a round nose bullet is it's only flaw, wish they still made them. This one will never be for sale. A short story though, 10,000 parts kits were imported to the Old Sacramento Armory when they were still in business. Ed Faust, the owner and importer got the last of the unassembled parts from IMI when they quit producing these. I'm sure these kits were picked up by someone and some are still around if you look hard enough. Only thing missing from the kits were a few small pins and springs, stuff that was easy to come by. Dealer Warehouse in CA would have some idea where they are. Ed Faust advertised these kits @ $190 or so. Didn't have to be much of a gunsmith to assemble into a nice rifle. Rifle in front is the Timberwolf, rifle in the back is a Martini Cadit in .357. The reason I made the custom bullet mold for it is with my 125 gr. reloads it cuts a cloverleaf group @50 yards with open sights. Think this has lots of accuracy potential I haven't discovered yet. My 125 gr. reloads for a 686 Smith went through the chrony over 1800 fps and still cuts that good of a group, quite a surprise to me.
This would be quite the SD rifle in a state where you couldn't have a semi-auto. I'm surprised that Springfield doesn't try to start up production on these again.

[MBTcustom]

Certainly! I recently had one in my shop. Cut back the magazine tube and threaded the barrel for a suppressor.
Very well made gun. One thing I thought was really smart about it is that they hardened the magazine tube so it couldn't be dented by barrel whoopin the bad guys. Had to cut it with carbide.
Also it has an integral weaver rail atop the receiver. Not too shabby!

[sthwestvictoria]

For some reason they are collectable here in Australia - I suppose the alternative to semi-autos which are quite restricted. I have shot one in 357, nice little rifles. Am I correct in that they are a scaled down 870 pump? The loading gate is very suggestive of this. As per this advertisement on sale for $3100 for the 357, $AUD3600 for the 44 magnum version. Bizarrely the advertisement states it is "milspec" a rather abused term!
111042

[cwheel]

With the trigger group removed, it's a half-sized 870, almost exactly.
Chris

[John Allen]

I have one myself in 357 it is a blast.

[wbrco]

Hmm.. maybe if someone can find the kits we could do a group buy?

[JohnH]

I'm not sure that manually operated firearms will ever have the popularity they once had. I'm sure there will always be a market, but most demand will be filled by bolt guns and single shots. I remember seeing the Timberwolves and over the years have wondered why the idea of pistol cartridge pump guns was not more popular. Years ago Remington made pump in 25-20 but not sure the model number. I guess the 223 and the 308 have killed off about everything else and if it's not compatible with those two cartridges, there just ain't enough demand to tool up for the making of something else. Sad really, it strikes me that Remington or Mossberg either one could make a nice rifle on this concept. I've often thought on what it would take to do a conversion of a 410 to a 45 Colt I figure the biggest problem would be coming up with a barrel, but a good machinist should be able to use the barrel extension from the 410 and fit a 45 barrel to it.

[cwheel]

The trail to finding those kits might start with The Dealers Warehouse in central CA. The importer, New Heliva ( which was Ed Faust ) had the original 10,000 or so parts kits. Ed developed some sort of Alzheimer's and lost his FFL and import license, his store front in Sacramento closed. Ed Faust was a very decent person, he and his business, the Old Sacramento Armory is missed by many of us. How many of those kits remained is unknown. Someone in the northwest got them when his remaining stock was sold off and the business closed. $190 or so for the kits in Shotgun News years ago. Anyone knows where they are will be Ravender at the Dealers Warehouse. Group buy is a great idea, just keep in mind that these kits are a FFL item due to the barreled receiver in the kit.
Chris

[catskinner]

I have one in 357 and it is fun. Mine will feed flat nose bullets. Got a turkey with mine one year using the RCBS 35-200 FN bullet. Cut the 357 case short so I could crimp in the crimp groove and keep the oal short enough to feed.

[Farmall]

When I was a kid, we rented a farmhouse to a local sheriffs deputy. There were several deputies back then that were gun guys, and they did a lot of target shooting in a big washout in the pasture behind the house.
i remember one of them had one of these, seems like it was either stainless, or nickel plated. Nice, fast handling patrol rifle, and I perfect companion to the S&W 19's and 686's they carried.
been looking for one since about 1987 or so!

[Drphilwv]

The Taurus Thunderbolt is still around, though I'm not sure how it compared size wise.

[cwheel]

Well, my info was almost right. Last known owner of these parts kits was the Dealers Showroom in Oregon. Think the owner is John Bush. Here is the original add from Shotgun News around 2004, this is when Old Sacramento Armory was still in business. Who knows if he still has any of these laying around or how much he might want for one. You can find the Dealers Showroom with a simple google search.
Chris

[OuchHot!]

Mine is also a bit hesitant with some bullet shapes. It has been very accurate. I wish I had gotten a .44m as well. The take down configuration and built in weaver rail are great features.

[blackthorn]

I bought one many years ago at a gun show. Paid under $200 for it. The guy said he was selling it for a friend and it had "fired very few rounds"! Took it up to the lake and went out to the old gravel pit where we shoot. Filled it up, pointed it at a pop can and---- "click" no fire! Tried several rounds from the box of cartridges that came with it and no fire. Got to looking at the rest of the box and each round had a VERY faint firing pin mark. Took that rifle home and started looking at it close. Around the firing pin there was some light brown oily stuff. The original owner had never cleaned the shipping grease out of the bolt so the pin could not get up enough "ompfh" (technical term) to fire. So I got a brand new rifle for under $200 with a full box of cartridges! Works fine now!

[cwheel]

This would be a great rifle to see IMI bring back into production. Of course, they are a little to busy right now, but after they win this conflict, and things return to normal. Be great to see a version in 30-30 as well for a small light weight hunting rifle. I like my lever action, but pump would be much faster. Bet a re-introduction could sell these things like hotcakes.
Chris

[Suo Gan]

It's lineage is from Remington design by the man Browning said was the greatest gun designer in the world, JD Pederson. Half a dozen or so men brought us from sling shots to machine guns.

To me the little carbine looks clunky. It has no barrel taper. The gap between the barrel and mag tube are to big. It just seems clunky. Can't compare it to a 14 or 25. But then those would cost five grand to buy if they made them nowadays...and they couldn't make them nowadays.

If I was a collector I would rather have an old Remington any day of the week. The parts can be scarce for the 25s, but then I can imagine the parts for these are as well.